Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
Prof. Niamh O’Connell leads a farm animal behaviour and welfare research programme. Her team includes research scientists Maeve Palmer, Mary Baxter and Mairead Campbell, and postgraduate students. Niamh has specific expertise in applied, on-farm research, and much of her programme is funded by agri-food companies. One of her research themes focusses on the welfare of poultry, and, in particular, on designing optimum housing environments. This work has underpinned changes in production practice both locally and internationally, and formed an impact case study in REF 2021 (where QUB ranked joint first in the UK for Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science). Niamh is also involved in commercially-funded research to develop novel biocidal products for the agri-food sector. She also has a strong interest in developing new methods of assessing animal welfare, and is currently working with ECIT colleagues to develop novel machine vision tools (FlockFocus project).
Niamh has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers, was a member of the EU Platform on Animal Welfare and a Hearing Expert for EFSA, and is a frequent invited speaker and industry advisor on farm animal welfare.
Teaching
Prof O'Connell teaches across different undergraduate and post graduate programmes and co-ordinates the final year undergraduate module in Farm Animal Health and Welfare (BIO3106).
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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R3246GFS: Development of an automated, early warning system for the detection of tail biting outbreaks in pigs
Kyriazakis, I. (PI), Alameer, A. (CoI) & O'Connell, N. (CoI)
21/10/2020 → 31/03/2021
Project: Research
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R5829GFS: Influence of perch design on the welfare of commercial broiler chickens
O'Connell, N. (PI)
15/05/2015 → 30/09/2016
Project: Research
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A computer vision approach to monitor activity in commercial broiler chickens using trajectory-based clustering analysis
Campbell, M., Miller, P., Díaz-Chito, K., Hong, X., McLaughlin, N., Parvinzamir, F., Martínez Del Rincón, J. & O'Connell, N., Feb 2024, In: Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 217, 12 p., 108591.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Citations (Scopus)145 Downloads (Pure) -
Automated weight estimation of broiler chickens using 2D computer vision
Campbell, M., Díaz-Chito, K., Miller, P., Baxter, M., Hong, X., McLaughlin, N., Martínez Del Rincón, J. & O'Connell, N., 15 Apr 2024, In: Animal - Science Proceedings. 15, 1, p. 134-135 120.Research output: Contribution to journal › Meeting abstract › peer-review
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Health, welfare and lifetime performance implications of alternative hatching and early life management systems for broiler chickens
Hanna, H., Richmond, A., Lavery, U. & O’Connell, N. E., 18 Jun 2024, In: PLOS ONE. 19, 6, 20 p., e0303351.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile28 Downloads (Pure) -
Analysis of the Veterinary Risk Assessment and Management Plan questionnaire responses for dairy herds enrolled in the Northern Ireland Johne's disease control programme
Meek, K., Strain, S., O'Connell, N. E. & Grant, I. R., Dec 2023, In: Veterinary Record Open. 10, 2, 11 p., e71.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile31 Downloads (Pure) -
Capturing the whole-school food environment in primary schools
Moore, S. E., Brennan, S. F., Lavelle, F., Dean, M., McKinley, M. C., Olgacher, D., McCole, P., Hunter, R. F., Dunne, L., O'Connell, N. E., Elliott, C. T., McCarthy, D. & Woodside, J. V., 05 Jun 2023, (Early online date) In: Public Health Nutrition. 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)33 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Dataset for "On-farm assessment of the antibacterial efficacy of hoof disinfectants for dairy cows"
Palmer, M. (Creator), O'Connell, N. (Contributor) & Garland, M. (Contributor), Queen's University Belfast, 05 Jun 2024
DOI: 10.17034/e86b4c71-7d3e-48db-b7e7-bd582a87bfd8
Dataset
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Dataset for "Health, welfare and lifetime performance implications of alternative hatching and early life management systems for broiler chickens"
Hanna, H. (Creator) & O'Connell, N. (Creator), Queen's University Belfast, 14 May 2024
DOI: 10.17034/1b3d8325-ce59-4c22-8b3e-177969c2c0d4
Dataset
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Dataset for "A comparison of fast growing broiler chickens with a slower-growing breed type"
Baxter, M. (Creator) & O'Connell, N. (Creator), Queen's University Belfast, 06 Sept 2021
DOI: 10.17034/7fdd4ccb-a0d4-413c-aec1-6579c1d07fae
Dataset
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Dataset for "Variations in the properties of dairy cow manure – implications for the testing and efficacy of footbathing products
Palmer, M. (Creator), O'Connell, N. (Contributor), Stewart, L. (Contributor), Helyar, S. (Contributor) & Garland, M. (Contributor), Queen's University Belfast, 25 May 2023
DOI: 10.17034/50fdf8c9-788e-40b0-92a1-3e38effa98ab
Dataset
File
Prizes
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Shortlisted for the 2021 Vice-Chancellor’s Research Prizes competition in the Research Engagement category for Project Daire
Woodside, J. (Recipient), McCarthy, D. (Recipient), Brennan, S. (Recipient), Moore, S. (Recipient), Lavelle, F. (Recipient), McCole, P. (Recipient), Cardwell, C. (Recipient), Elliott, C. (Recipient), McKinley, M. (Recipient), Hunter, R. (Recipient), O'Connell, N. (Recipient), Dean, M. (Recipient) & Dunne, L. (Recipient), 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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FlockFocus: Developing automated surveillance tools to safeguard chicken welfare
Miller, P. (Advisor) & O'Connell, N. (Advisor)
12 Sept 2024Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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Improving and monitoring broiler chicken welfare
O'Connell, N. (Advisor)
05 Sept 2024Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited or keynote talk at national or international conference
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Environmental enrichment for chickens - should we think outside of the (dust) box?
O'Connell, N. (Advisor)
27 Mar 2024Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited or keynote talk at national or international conference
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Presentation of FlockFocus project and demo.
Miller, P. (Advisor) & O'Connell, N. (Advisor)
12 Jan 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Working towards improved farm animal welfare
O'Connell, N. (Advisor)
06 Mar 2021Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Press/Media
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Interview for BBC Radio Ulster Sunday Sequence show (2022)
07/08/2022
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Article on broiler chicken research for Alumni Office webpage (2022)
25/07/2022
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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Vision-based system tracks, analyzes chicken welfare (2020)
O'Connell, N., Martinez-del-Rincon, J., Miller, P. & McLaughlin, N.
27/05/2020
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities